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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27624251">The Key</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/beijiu/pseuds/beijiu'>beijiu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F, Pirates, Space Pirates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:06:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,226</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27624251</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/beijiu/pseuds/beijiu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A pirate ship captain Kim Jiu is looking for her biggest desire with her crewmates. When she's finally after years a step closer to achieving it, there's a turn in her journey which takes her a lot more far away than she could ever imagine.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Han Dong | Handong/Lee Yubin | Dami, Kim Minji | JiU/Lee Siyeon, Kim Yoohyeon/Lee Gahyeon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>DreamCatcher Pirate Ficfest 2k20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Key</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi! i hope you enjoy my writing!</p><p>please note that english is not my first language.</p><p>im very excited to take part in this ficfest, it's my first and please enjoy all of the other works too :D</p><p>if you have any questions, you can ask in the comments. im going to add tags as i update this fic.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Captain Jiu sat loosely on a chair in front of her desk in her cabin, deep in her thoughts, thinking about whatever crossed her mind. Her head was tilted a bit, her left hand on her sword which blade’s tip was almost piercing the wooden floor of her room, making the smallest cuts, scratches and little holes while she was slightly moving the weapon around. Because of that habit, it was no wonder she had to sharpen it so often. And the habit had gotten worse over the last few weeks, Jiu was really missing this one certain thing.</p><p>It had been months, maybe even a year since the last time she stepped on land. It had been too much: she needed it. Her crew needed it. They had been sailing around the seas for that time, looking for their goal without any satisfying results. And on top of that, they must restock their supplies, mainly clear water and food, they were running out of them.</p><p>Jiu was looking forward to finding her goal. It was their current mission, basically exploring an island. An island which has barely been touched. At least in history books or stories she had heard, and there were many of those, mainly from her father. No-one, nothing could ever tell her what secrets this island was keeping in it’s hideouts. All she had was a map. A worn out map that could hardly be readen, which was why she was lucky she had Sua with her on board. </p><p>To find that island, which could only be a myth, they had to find another island first. The one where they could resupply and take a little break before continuing their journey and where they had to find the main key of finding their true destination. This first island was the one where Sua’s map led to. All of this made Jiu excited. At least on the inside, the people closest to her would say. Jiu wasn’t a person who easily showed her feelings to people she didn’t know.</p><p>And now, Minji would finally be able to get closer to her goal, achieving it was the thing she desired the most. She had a crew. And a ship. Both which she truly treasured. They were her own treasure, especially-</p><p>Siyeon’s, the ship’s second in command, voice interrupted her thoughts as she came in from the door, closing it behind her. “Minji, we have located the island on the horizon. You should come on deck.”</p><p>Minji fixated her gaze on Siyeon, their eyes locked immediately. The younger woman quickly averted her gaze. “Oh? Really? Are you certain it’s the right one?”</p><p>Siyeon sighed. “Yes, Minji, it’s the one on the map. Bora is certain of that, you know she’s never wrong with these things.”</p><p>Yes, Bora had been working so hard to find it. Everything was depending on her, to be honest. All the islands they had sailed closer to, every possible one that could be the right island before this moment, Bora was certain it’s not it. But now, this was probably one of the moment’s when Bora had never been more sure about something. And Minji knew it too.</p><p>“Right, I shall come on deck then.” Minji rose from her seat and put her sword back in her sword frog. She followed Siyeon’s gaze, she was looking at the scratches on the floor. “You still haven’t fixed your habits… You’re going to pierce the floor at this point.”</p><p>Minji laughed a bit. “Do you want to help me to fix it?”</p><p>Siyeon walked to the spot and crouched down, tracing the cuts with her fingers. She glanced at Minji. “Do you mean the habit or the floor?”</p><p>“Whatever you want, darling.” Minji smiled and raised her eyebrow, leaving the cabin right after that. Siyeon was left there speechless with a racing heart - this was one of those moments with Minji when she didn’t exactly know if it was… flirting or just normal conversation between them. She hoped it was the first opinion, but how could it be? The two had been best friends for so many years. It was so unlikely. The line was blurred at this point.</p><p>Siyeon shook her thoughts off and concentrated, finally following Minji onto the deck. With a smile on her face, she watched the captain do one of the things she was the best at - her job as a captain. Minji had definitely gotten that from her father. Siyeon was proud of her, she had always been.</p><p>After watching Minji for a little while, Siyeon moved her gaze over Bora who was managing the helm and getting their ship, The Endless Night, to a good position before going on land. Bora had a bottle of rom in her other hand, occasionally taking a sip from it. She was probably celebrating. Siyeon unconsciously reached for her own flask and drank a bit too, she deserved it just like Bora did, after saving it for so long for this moment. All of the crew could finally relax. Besides, she would get some more alcohol from the apparent port that she now saw. There was a harbor? How come it hadn’t been marked on the map? She would probably find that out very soon.</p><p>It hadn’t really been an easy job to find the island, even for Bora, and the hardest part was still ahead of them.</p><p>They would have to find the hint. The clue of what they were actually looking for. </p><p>“Everyone, we’re very close to the island, as you can clearly see. Does everyone remember their jobs or do I have to remind you?” Jiu exclaimed, her voice was loud. She needed everyone to hear what she had to say, especially as the captain of the ship.</p><p>Jiu was known for her discipline. For the outsiders she may seem more soft, her being a woman doing it’s own part, but her crew knew better. Disobey her and she treats you like you were not worth anything and even less, if you continue disobeying her, she will be ruthless. Obey her and she treats you nicely, as a friend. Jiu’s crew was known for being committed to her. Maybe some of them were even afraid, who knows, but they were still loyal.</p><p>-	-	-</p><p>Most of the crew was assigned to do the resupplying and some more basic stuff while the rest of them, mostly the most trusted members of the crew, was assigned a special mission. It was exploring through the island a bit, making a map of it just in case.</p><p>Jiu decided to go through the mission one more time to avoid any confusion. “Like you know, we’re going to split up in pairs of two. No-one should go alone because there could be some unexpectable dangers.”</p><p>She took a little break of speaking, looking at everyone before her one after another.</p><p>“We’re going to begin as soon as I’m done with this. As you know, I will go with Brea. Sua will go with Youngmin. Siyeon will go with Lufia and Henry will go with Jiwon.”</p><p>Jiu took a little break again, now looking around the island. Or what she could see from this position, they were standing on the beach. “Sua and Youngmin will continue to the left from here, following the beach. Henry and Jiwon will do the same thing but you will go to the right side. Siyeon and Lufia will go towards that meadow and the forest behind it. Brea and me will go through that forest and those little mountains behind it. Understood?”</p><p>Everyone gave a “Yes, ma’am” and it was the only thing she needed to hear before beginning the mission. “Let’s go then. Remember to be back right before the sun goes down. I’m expecting to meet everyone at this same position.”</p><p>-	-	-</p><p>Sua and Youngmin were the first ones to return to the designated spot, it was quite early since they hadn’t encountered anything special. They had decided to turn back to not be late. Henry and Jiwon were the next ones to arrive, having the exact same thing to do. After that they waited, the sunset getting closer and closer.</p><p>It was not until dusk when the four of them saw Siyeon and Lufia coming closer to the spot, seemingly both of them were exhausted.</p><p>“Did you run?” Sua asked, the answer was however obvious.</p><p>“No shit, as if we would become like this after just doing some walking.” Lufia blurted out. Sua rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Has anyone seen Jiu or Brea yet? I thought we would be the last.” Siyeon asked, looking around a bit. </p><p>“Nope, we thought they would come back with you.” Youngmin stated, “Did you even see them on your way back?”</p><p>“We didn’t…” Siyeon responded, looking back at where she just came from. No sight of them.</p><p>“Let’s just wait for a while, I bet they will return soon.” Jiwon said, she was usually the rational one. And patient.</p><p>-	-	-</p><p>“We should turn back, we won’t be able to make it back in time at this rate.” Jiu said, grabbing Brea’s hand. “Let’s go.”</p><p>Brea sighed. “Yeah… Let’s explore the mountains tomorro-”</p><p>Both of them got startled by a loud explosion, which seemed to come from the opposite direction they were supposed to go at. Jiu let go of Brea’s hand, jumping back a bit.</p><p> “What the…” Brea looked back at the mountains, taking her sword out as a reflex. “Should we investigate?”</p><p>“Hmm…” Jiu was thinking, she kept pondering between possible options and what could happen, if it was dangerous to investigate but if it also would be only one time thing. She had no idea what it could be, most likely just some miners. Or an enemy.</p><p>“Let’s investigate but only briefly. We can come back tomorrow.” Jiu finally responded, grabbing the other woman’s arm again, walking towards the small mountain. It wasn’t too far away, they had heard the explosion after all. They might be a little late but it could also be worth it.</p><p>“Oh, there’s a cave. I think the noise came from there.” Brea stated, glancing at Jiu. Jiu nodded, entering the cave first. It quickly became very dark and it was hard for them to see which meant they had to use the stone walls to go forward by feeling them with their bare fingers. The smell was also disgusting, it kept worsening as they kept going.</p><p>The two didn’t know how deep inside they were and there hadn’t been any traces of an explosion yet. Their steps were unsure as their eyesight was almost nonexistent, the only thing they heard was the echo of their footsteps.</p><p>“I think we sh-” Jiu started, however she couldn’t finish her sentence as she tripped over something.</p><p>Jiu had lost her balance. She was basically sitting on the ground, fumbling around. Until she felt something, most likely the thing that had caused her to lose her balance in the first place. It was… also the source of the terrible smell. She kept feeling it with her hands until she realised what it was. </p><p>“What the hell?!” Jiu exclaimed, trying to get a hold of Brea. “That’s a fucking corpse!”</p><p>No answer… yet. “Brea? Where are you?”</p><p>She waited for a few seconds until she heard the other woman respond. Her voice seemed like she was focusing on something. “Jiu? Come look at this. Follow the light…”</p><p>Jiu realised now that there actually was a faint light that was coming from behind the apparent corner, it also being the direction Brea’s voice had come from. She stood up and started stumbling towards it, trying to avoid the dead animals and a few human skeletons too that were lying on the ground. The smell was unbearable.</p><p>Once she was next to Brea again, she saw that… thing the woman had been talking about. </p><p>“What the fuck is that?” Jiu blurted out, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was so bright and white it almost blinded her, it was… breathtaking. Jiu was filled with confusion, she was so amazed she was left speechless. </p><p>The two didn’t know how long they had been just staring at it but they did want to know more. Brea was the one to break the silence, even though that thing did make some faint noise. “Do you think this is the source of that explosion?”</p><p>“Yeah…” Jiu responded, now looking around the place, it seemed like there wasn’t any direction to go besides where they came from.</p><p>Brea took a step towards the shining, bright white thing, or whatever it was. She was curious. Very curious. “I want to touch it…” She took another step, reaching for it with her hand.</p><p>“Brea, wait! It can be dangerous!” Jiu exclaimed, going forward and reaching for Brea, again. That ended up being a mistake because she stumbled upon another skeleton, pushing the other one towards the white phenomenon. Brea’s reflexes were quick as she grabbed Jiu, trying to avoid falling down.</p><p>It was too late, they both ended up falling into the white thing.</p><p>The next thing they saw was white, black, and their worlds spinning. They felt sick to their stomachs, the worst they had ever felt.</p><p>Maybe it was just a relief they ended up blacking out.</p>
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